As of August 26, 2013, these six people have emigrated from Earth’s atmosphere and not yet returned:

Pavel Vinogradov, Commander (Russia): 151 DAYS IN SPACE

Alexander Misurkin, Flight Engineer (Russia): 151 DAYS IN SPACE

Chris Cassidy, Flight Engineer (USA): 151 DAYS IN SPACE

Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer (Russia): 90 DAYS IN SPACE

Karen Nyberg, Flight Engineer (USA): 90 DAYS IN SPACE

Luca Parmitano, Flight Engineer (Italy): 90 DAYS IN SPACE

When I was a kid, I always thought that by the time I was an adult, we would have town-sized colonies in space stations around Earth, even if nowhere else. But getting and keeping human beings in space is hard, and robots have gotten very smart. Still, when I think about the rise of commercial human spaceflight, part of me is like “I don’t just want to shoot into space like a soda can and do one lousy orbit!” — as if that wouldn’t be the most magical experience of my life. It doesn’t matter. What I really want is to do a semester abroad.